Notice?
by Ghost ReaperandWinter Cherries
Summary: Ryou won't come out of the ring and Bakura gets a new perspective of his host's everyday life.
1. Chapter 1

_Notice?_

Ghost ReaperandWinter Cherries

* * *

Ryou looked up.

* * *

Bakura growled, tangling harshly with his ragged, knotty hair and a comb; the battle was long, hard, and full of defeat.

"I never understood how you always kept such tidy hair," The Ring tucked snuggly in a pile of fluffy blankets did not respond. He sighed, giving one last tug at his still knotted hair before giving up, flopping down next to the Ring without even botheRing to change out of his day-clothes.

"I don't understand how the Pharaoh and his clingy little boy-toy manage to keep their hair up like that," He murmured, vainly running his fingers through his stiff hair. "This stupid spray won't come out,"

He used it to keep the spikes in his hair from falling down, to look as menacing as possible in Ryou's effeminate little body but it was always such a pain to undo afterwards that he always wondered _why_ he let himself do it again and again.

Absently, he wondered why _Ryou_ let him do it again and again.

"Hikari what do you usually eat for dinner?"

Again, nothing.

Bakura sighed and rolled off the bed, falling face first into the soft, plush carpet of his host's bedroom, breathing in the sweet scent of a nice clean carpet before heaving his sore body up off the floor, replacing his (Amane's) necklace with the Ring and trudging wearily out of the room.

* * *

"Butter knives are the worst kind of knife," He was making a Nutella sandwich, something they could and never would have had back in Egypt and a novelty that he would surely take full advantage of in the present-day. "They're the dullest see?"

He took a big long _lick_ off the serrated side. "I can't even cut myself with it,"

The Ring glinted back at him duly in the low light, unimpressed. He sighed again, tossing the boring metal object back into the sink and grabbing his sandwiches, feeling the nauseating pangs of starvation bubble up from his stomach. Before Ryou had retreated into the ring he'd been taking less and less care of the body and with their father's usual absence it had been becoming thinner and thinner, weaker and weaker.

Usually, back in Egypt when he had first started out as a thief, the Spirit of the Ring would have used the Shadows to fill his empty stomach until he could steal suitable meal but now, now in the luxurious world of modern medicine and an obesity epidemic Bakura didn't think he'd ever run out of food (he didn't understand why Ryou refused himself food and stood on the scale everynight in secret, always saying it wasn't enough it wasn't _enough)_.

He grabbed a pack of cookies as well.

The couch was comfy enough, made out of leather it always got sticky and gross in the summer but right now it was night so as long has he didn't stay in one position for too long then he'd be fine. The Spirit flipped on the Tv, munching on his midnight dinner and thinking.

"You know Yadonushi I bet you'll have fun tomorrow, there's a math test I'm sure you'll ace thanks to my expert note-taking skills and I'm sure the comic-book store has a new shipment of Duel Monsters coming in, the booster pack ad sound like the cards would be a great addition to our deck don't you think?"

No response. He growled and ate the last of his sandwich. "Would you stop being such a bitch? Dad didn't come to the thing, so what? It's not my fucking fault, why are you punishing me?"

* * *

Loud banging woke him up with a start. Where was he?

"Now Ryou, what have your Father and I told you about falling asleep on the couch?"

Oh that's right, he'd been watching the telly and telling off his host….

"Mmmm, Marien, go 'way," He turned over, the Ring's five cold spines poking him in the chest as he rolled off the couch and onto the floor, hiding his head beneath the coffee table. The horrid Step-Mother, his Hikari _hated_ this woman with a passion, his Father had met her during some trip to America and decided to bring the peppy Satanist back to Japan with him once he'd finally realized he'd been neglecting his son for 6 years. The woman thought she could just slide into his Yadonushi's life and replace his real mother, it was horrid.

"Now Ryou," He could practically _hear_ her patient smile. "We've talked about this, you have to go to school, it's not good for such a bright young man like you to just laze around the house all day, it's bad enough your Father didn't notice you on his way out for work today and you've already missed four periods of school, you can't miss the rest,"

She opened the previously shut curtains making the Spirit hiss and wish he could retreat back into the Ring.

"Come on," The woman patted his half-hidden head affectionately. "Up you pop,"

Knowing for a fact that the woman would not quit pestering him until he got up and at least _dressed,_ Bakura managed to pull himself up, exposing the Ring as he stretched.

Marien tutted. "Honey I've told you to put that ugly hunk of junk away, it's tacky and big; somebody could rob you if they saw you wearing it in public!"

He scoffed quietly, trying not to get Ryou in trouble as an incentive for him to reemerge from the Ring. "It was my sister's,"

"Well why don't you wear a different one of Amane's necklaces? You were wearing one yesterday, why not wear the silver chain or take off that silly binder and put on a nice flowery dress?"

Ryou didn't like dresses, Ryou _despised_ dresses.

"No,"

"Well I still don't want you walking around with that big hunk of gold wrapped around your neck," She made a 'gimmie' motion with her free hand. "Hand it over young man,"

He ignored her and trudged back to their room.

* * *

"You're being very pessimistic today," It was Yugi, the boy who could carry on both sides of a conversation by himself and current vessel of Egypt 'beloved' Pharaoh. Bakura probably wouldn't have found him so bad if he weren't a direct descendant of the man he'd sworn to destroy. "Is something wrong Ryou?"

The two were sitting inside the quiet gym today since it they were doing suicides on the outside basketball court, Yugi's 'twisted' ankle giving him an excuse to not participate and Bakura's asthma had been acting funky recently (not doubt due to his rapidly declining health) so he had opted out of the running as well.

"Nothing," He grunted and turned away from the short teen. Out of his peripheral vision he saw Yugi sigh.

"Was it your Step-Mom?"

He was knew that his Hikari's friends were vaguely aware that he was unhappy with his Marien and shrugged just as his Host would if he were in control.

"Did she make you go in the room?"

The room was something Ryou's friends referred to as the bad omen in his house, it was actually Amane's old room, a room that he hadn't been in since her death, nor let anyone else enter as well, the place was lost to time and since nobody knew of Amane beside him, Ryou, their Father and Step-Mother his Host's friends thought that Marien used the room to do horrible things to him.

(Ryou never bothered to correct them either, he supposed the death of his older twin sister was one secret he was determined to keep)

He shrugged again but felt as if Yugi knew that wasn't what was going on (even though he didn't say so).

"You can talk to us Ryou," He placed a delicate hand on his knee, Bakura stared at the black polish instead of his face. "You can talk to me,"

"I don't want to," He mumbled, sure that Yugi's cat-like hearing would pick up on the low words.

The bell rang and they left it at that.

* * *

School came and went and Bakura was sure he aced the math. Yadonushi hadn't responded to a single outside stimuli all day: he had tired bribery, promising to do homework, buy the new booster packs, clean the house, hell he even volunteered to willingly go clothes shopping with their Step-Mother but nothing would get his Hikari to come out of the Ring, nothing would cause him to even _acknowledge_ the spirit.

(it was so frustrating he might just punch Joey)

Currently the Spirit was outside his usual haunt and headed towards Domino's world-famous mega arcade with the Yugi and the Pharaoh cheerleaders, slowly nursing an orange soda and some sort of chocolate candy bar as they walked.

"Yo Ryou," Spoke Joey, turning towards the seemingly downtrodden boy; he wasn't down, Bakura actually looked happier than Ryou had in months. "What's got you so happy t'day?"

"Nothing, just, enjoying the sunshine," It killed him to say something so tacky but everything he'd done was done so in keeping the facade of Ryou's awareness and so they didn't get suspicious and banish him from the body for a few days. He knew Ryou wouldn't take over the body if that happened and then they would be a soulless, catatonic, coma patient for a few days before he worked his way out of the Shadow Realm and back into the body. The experience would scar the Pharaoh's vessel and he couldn't let that happen, he needed Ryou to be close so he would have easier access to the puzzle, not to let one little collapsing incident ruin his chance at revenge this millenia.

"Ah yeah, you gotta get out more my pasty British friend,"

And the continued their trek without another hitch.

* * *

"You know sometimes, when you get really excited you look like the Spirit of the Ring," Yugi said to him offhandedly as they slurped on their drinks and ambled slowly down the deserted road. "But, like, not in the bad way, more like in the way his personality stands out more, I mean, you just seem so much more vibrant,"

That was because he _was_ the Spirit of the Ring thank-you-very-much but little Yugi didn't need to know that.

The arcade was fun, Yugi the ever-present King of Games continued his winning streak before being recognized by a fan and having their entire group chased out by a horde of rabid fangirls.

"That was… an interesting experience,"

The mini-Pharaoh giggled. "Yeah, you could say that again, I think one of those girls tried to pull out my hair,"

Bakura chuckled with him. As one of the top elite duelists in the _world_ he'd been almost immediately recognized as well and somebody had dared to get close enough to try and snag his glasses before Tristan punched them away. "Yeah. it was nuts,"

The two walked in more comfortable silence towards Ryou's house before Yugi's phone buzzed and he gasped.

"Oh no!" He frantically checked what time it was. "I was supposed to help Grandpa with the shop like 3 hours ago! Sorry but I gotta go,"

He gave him a quick hug before taking off in down another adjacent street, looking back at him one last time with a grin. "See ya Bakura!"

The Spirit stood there for a moment, stunned.

"He knew," He murmured, stroking the ring with one hand. "Or maybe he just…"

Bakura was sure he'd be ten times more likely to be struck down by lightning at this very moment than for Yugi to have realized it was him and not Ryou. The thought was preposterous but here he was, pondering the probability of it being true. Yugi _never_ called him Bakura unless he knew it was the Spirit but maybe because of his affinity with the Shadows he might have _instinctively_ known it was his and not Ryou, even if he was not consciously aware.

He continued to trek home in moderate silence.

"I have to admit," The Spirit of the Ring spoke as he walked back in the direction of their apartment. "I'd forgotten how exhausting people are,"

Ryou didn't respond, the link still desturbingly silent.

"You included,"

* * *

"Hello Father," Harku Bakura looked towards the haggard version of his son standing lifelessly in the doorway.

"Hello Ryou, how was school?" He had been acting strange, well, stranger than normal for the past few days and his wife, Marien was beginning to worry that his pills had begun to lose their effectiveness.

"Fine," He'd been especially short with him throughout the entire week, never answering a question in more than two or three words.

"Ryou," He growled, grabbing his son's wrist before he could scurry back to the safety of his bedroom. "Have you been taking your medication?"

His son tugged at his wrist but Harku held fast. "Ryou…" He said warningly.

"No I haven't, now would you let me go you old fart," He sneered, ripping his arm away from his Father's grip. "Those pills don't do a damn thing so quit forcing me to take them,"

"Now son-," He began but his boy beat him to the punch.  
"Don't ' _now son'_ me as if we had a relationship, you've skipped out on most on the majority of my life since I was 9! It wasn't my fault Mom and Amane died but you clearly fucking blamed me, so fuck off for once in your goddamn life!"

Before storming off like a child.

The door slammed shut.

* * *

It was raining.

Bakura stormed down the street in utter _rage_. It seems like that old fool of a Father had come home early today, the one day he was exhausted and ready to just go _sleep_ but that bastard had decided to get on him about the pills. Ever since he'd started taking over for Ryou, Marien had tried to force him to take these Ra-awful pills that made him puke and gag but none of the adults in Ryou's life seemed to care.

It was infuriating and he'd finally just stopped taking them but of course his absentee parent had decided to be present for the one thing that didn't really matter because if Ryou was going to commit suicide he would have already and there was nothing dear old dad could do about it.

Such a crappy way to end a not-so-bad day too.

(so lost in his anger he stopped looking at where he was going)

The semi was barreling towards them and all he saw were the blinding headlights before—

Bakura hated waking up in his soul room like that. Something had happened and pushed him out of control and it wasn't Ryou.

Oh that boy, the thought of his Landlord sent him spiralling and he quickly stood up, storming out his door and towards the one on the opposite side of the hall.

"Ryou open up!" He banged violently on his Hikari's door, eyes blazing. "I'm tired of this bullshit!"

The door basically splinted beneath his fists and he stormed in. The room was a violent flurry of wreckage: gouges in the walls, scorch marks lining the walls and everything, every object, picture, and nick-nack was twisted, shattered, or otherwise broken to some degree, a tiny white lump sitting in the middle of it all.

Bloody filled eyes turn up to look at him and he feels like he might be sick.

" _It's funny how nobody notices it's not me,"_

* * *

(it was a blue sky)


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Aftermath (The Parents)**

Notice?

 _Aftermath_

 _(The Parents)_

Ghost ReaperandWinter Cherries

* * *

He could see a figure in the distance.

* * *

Harku got the call at 3 in the morning. Marien had been nervously preparing the third batch of sugar cookies as a result of her worried baking and Harku had been doing paperwork for the museum, his son's relationship with the two younger Ishtars had given him the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to display some of their family's many ancient tablets and artifacts but the paperwork was absolutely dreadful.

"Oh Harku, why did he have to storm out like that? Why did you upset him?" She sniffed, fingering some object that Ryou had left on the counter a few weeks ago. "You know he hasn't been feeling well these past few weeks, I told you to talk to him before something like this happened! He could be lying dead in a ditch somewhere all over those stupid pills!"

Harku sighed, it wasn't as if he was trying to set his son off on purpose, it always just seemed to _happen_. One minute they're talking and the next he's either gone uncomfortably quiet or screaming unitellieably and tossing objects around the room, it was honestly a miracle he hadn't picked up something of Amane's yet and had a total mental breakdown. The pills were supposed to treat the bipolarity of his personality, something that had first appeared in Amane when they were young and now in his son after his older twin had died but as of a few months ago some depressive symptoms had surfaced and Marien was scared for her 'baby boy's' life.

"I'm sure he's fine, that boy's always running off with his friends to do one thing or another, I'm sure he'd probably staying at the Ishtar's right now," He blew her off, angry that his son had brought up the past; he knew after Charlotte and Amane's deaths that he hadn't been the greatest father but he still deserved more credit than what Ryou gave him, he was coping just as his son was with their deaths.

"Then why don't you dial them up _and check?"_ She demanded through gritted teeth, Marien had never had any more children and unfortunately had lost her first child from sickness many years ago, the pain however was still fresh in her mind and every time she saw Ryou falling deeper and deeper into his mind she felt the nauseating pangs of heartsickness and her maternal instincts kicked into overdrive, wanting to nourish and protect her new baby.

"I will do no such thing, it's 3 in the morning, nobody in their right mind would answer the phone," That was completely untrue, he didn't want to call the Ishtars because if Ryou _was_ staying at their house to escape him they'd surely want to withdraw their invested artifacts in his museum display if his son had told them what happened. Harku wasn't ready to check and see if all his hard work had been for nothing.

His wife looked on the verge of a complete emotional breakdown. "Don't you care about your son?" She cried, punching the counter. He cringed at her fiery hot rage. "Don't you understand? He's hurting! He's been hurting since his big sister died and you've done jack _-shit_ to help him, it's no wonder the boy hates you, you've done nothing but hurt him for years!"

" _I've_ hurt him, Me?!" Harku yelled right back. "I've tried and tried over and over again to fix my mistakes and repair our relationship but that _boy_ won't get over it! He's still stuck in the past and every time some little, _minor_ problem happens he freaks out and hides behind his friends like a coward! _I've done nothing wrong here!"_

She paused and stared him down, deathly quiet. "You missed it,"

He took a deep breath, exasperated. "Missed what?"

"His tournament three weeks ago, you missed it and I remember him being so excited about you saying you would come and you never did! You keep breaking that boy's heart over and over and _over_ again!" She laughed mockingly. "He tries so hard to get you to love him, he really does,"

It was quiet for a moment.

(they both jumped when the phone rang)

"Hello?" Harku answered irritatedly, how dare she pin this all on him? It was that damn boy that was the screw up not him!

"Are you Bakura Harku?" The voice on the other end asked, the bustling commotion in the background almost drowned out his voice.

Harku sighed, a telemarketer. "Yes this is he, look I don't want one of your 'free routers' my phone plan works just fine I-"

"Oh no uh, I'm not a telemarketer," The man interrupted. "I'm a nurse from the hospital, your son uh, Bakura Ryou was just checked into the emergency room at Domino General hospital, he was uh, found on the side of the highway just outside the city in critical condition, witnesses say-"

The rest of the man's sentence was drowned out by the blood rushing loudly through his head.

 _God, no._

"I'm sorry," He voice shook, it couldn't be true. "What did you say?"

"Your son, he was hit by a semi and taken to the Emergency Room,"

Marien must have noticed his visibly paling face. "What is it Harku, what's wrong?"

He turned his attention away from her and back to the phone. "Hit…" He had trouble saying the words. "Hit, by a semi?"

"Y-yes," The nurse stumbled over his words. "It, it's a miracle he's still alive, we um, we need you to come in and approve the surgery since he's still a minor-?"

Harku cut him off before he could continue. "Yes yes just, just, do the surgery, I'll sign whatever I need to sign when I arrive, just help him, please,"

Oh God it was all his fault, he killed his baby boy, the last of his sweet Charlotte and baby Amane.

"O-okay sir-"

* * *

"My, my baby…"

He husband gave her a pitying look nevermind being just as shaken as she was. He had just gotten off the phone with somebody from the hospital, oh God her baby was hurt! "Har-Harku hurry up, we, we need to get down there was fast as we can,"

She grabbed her keys off the countertop and rushed out of the house, Harku not far behind her.

The drive to the hospital just wasn't fast enough in her opinion, oh how could this happen?! She tried so hard to keep her new son safe and sound, it was hard enough when she'd been dragged out of the country on a business trip with Harku during one of Ryou's tournaments and he'd been stabbed; now, now she was in the country, not more than a few miles away and he'd been almost killed!

She was such a horrible mother.

A gross sob escaped her lips as they pulled into the Emergency Room's parking lot, hands gripping the steering wheel.

"Come on Marien, we need to check in and sign those papers,"

Harku, Harku, Harku... always worried about _paperwork._

She let him take her hand and pull her away from the car and into the ER. They checked in at the front desk.

"Yes, we're here from Bakura Ryou," For someone who's only remaining child was in the hospital, Harku was surprisingly calm, Marien could barely manage to keep her head straight.

The receptionist typed away on the keyboard for a moment. "Ah yes, Bakura Ryou, he should be out of surgery and moved to one of the main hospital rooms soon,"

The woman reached down and pulled out a large set of forms. "Please, fill these out while you wait, I'll call make sure somebody calls you over when he get out of surgery,"

She gave Marien a sympathetic look and it made her feel uneasy, like he wasn't—

"How," She took a deep breath, trying to calm her frazzled nerves. "How badly was my son injured?"

The receptionist (her name tag read Mrs. Sakura) dug around for a minute in the files behind her and looked back at them with a frown, reading almost mechanically. "The report says Bakura Ryou, age 15, found on the side of I4 after being the victim of a hit-and-run by what witnesses say was a Pepsi cola semi-truck, has sustained fractured ribs, shatter left arm and fracture leg, internal bleeding, suspected punctured lung, severe hemorrhaging and multiple cases of organ damage and failure-"

Mrs. Sakura heard her uncontainably loud sob and stopped reading the report.

"Honey, you really should go sit down,"

"Hu-hush Harku," She sniffled and took a tissue out of the box on the counter. "We'll, we'll go fill out those pa-papers now,"

* * *

The wait felt like an eternity to Harku.

Plenty of injured people came and went and the two Bakuras were still there, stuck in the waiting room; he could have filled out the paperwork three times before they'd gotten the call.

"Mr and Mrs. Bakura? We have news about your son,"

Marien bolted out of her seat faster than a frightened jack-rabbit but he however took a few seconds longer. They were about to find out what had become of their son and whatever the result was it was all his _fault._

* * *

She wailed.

* * *

The nurse led Harku and Marien through the maze-like corridors of the main hospital, both husband and wife following like zombies, both sporting glazed eyes and tearful faces.

"Here he is," The man ushered the two into a relatively empty room save for one small figure in a bed near the window. "I'll give you two a moment,"

Marien was the first to approach; Ryou looked so much younger and glass-like, very translucent and fragile.

She brushed away a lock of bloodied hair. "H-hey baby,"

He didn't respond.

"We, we're sorry we ran you out of the house. I didn't mean to let you get scared away," She sniffled, a wave of fresh tears threatening to break. "Nex-next time you don't want to take any pills t-tell me and I'll, I'll get you something else to help instead okay? No, no more running away,"

It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Marien sobbed loudly as she fixed his rumpled hair and tucked the thin white blanket in better.

Harku collapsed into a stiff chair by the bed with his head in his hands. "... We could sue that company and their reckless driving, they hit a child, then we'd have a little more money to help with—"

She rounded on him angrily, slapping him in the face. "How. Dare. You. I can't believe it, all you can think about is money and paperwork, our son is dead! _It's all your fault!"_

How could he be so heartless? Marien loved Ryou as if he was her own child, how could his actual father be so heartless?

* * *

(Amane?)


End file.
